Advocates from anti-hunger groups say President Donald Trump’s more than $1 trillion budget proposal would hurt the neediest Ohioans the most. The president’s budget cuts funds for many domestic programs, including anti-poverty programs that help needy families across the state.

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Cuts to Ohio anti-poverty programs

The Trump administration’s budget would cut more than a dozen federal agencies and programs designed to help struggling people. These include low-income heating assistance programs, school aid for rural communities and help for homeless veterans

Lisa Hamler-Fugitt is director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks. She says the budget cuts will also directly impact Ohioans who rely on emergency food pantries to help feed their families. The state has among the highest food-insecurity rates in the country.

"One in six Ohioans are struggling to meet their basic food needs,” she says. “Seven years out from the end of the Great Recession, we are continuing to experience elevated rates of hunger, food insecurity and poverty in our community and the Trump proposal will only increase food insecurity, hunger, poverty and suffering among our most vulnerable.”

The Foodbank association provides emergency food for an estimated 70,000 Ohioans a year. At least 40 percent of the households include children under 18.